BELA is a registered charity and has been working with children and families in Brooks and area since 2012. We are always looking for avenues to contribute to the overall health and wellness of families. As a way to extend further support to families in our area, we will be sharing the proceeds from BELA’s Festival of Trees with a co-beneficiary each year that, like us, also works with or provides services or supports to children and families.
This years’ co-beneficiary will be the Brooks Food Bank Foundation. We are truly honored to work with them on this event. There is no better time than right now and no better place than Festival of Trees to connect with our community and share specifics on the pressure our food bank is under, the massive increase in demand they are facing and the ways we can all come together to support them!
The face of hunger is real and it’s very close to home (Food Banks Canada, 2024).
Kathy is a single mom with two young sons. Like many Canadians, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic came an unprecedented rise in the cost of living and food inflation, her grocery budget was stretched razor thin. Despite the income she received from her full-time job, she was no longer able to ensure her family had enough to eat.
Doug is a 50 year old single man living in a small town. He’s had stable work at the local mill, but due to circumstances beyond his control, Doug lost his job. Unfortunately, the local economy hasn’t been good so he’s had difficulty finding employment.
Maryam is married with 4 children.She and her husband left good paying jobs in their home country in search of a safer life and better education for their kids. But settling into Canada has been more of a struggle than anticipated.
These stories from food bank users across the country are a harsh reality for many people living in our community as well. The Brooks Food Bank Foundation has been operating as a non profit organization since 1998 providing emergency food assistance for all people in the ever-evolving Brooks and County of Newell, which currently includes 596 active households, which amounts to approx 1200 individual people.
“In the last couple years, there was a noticeable increase in clients that we link directly to the rising cost of living in the city. In Brooks, the price of food, rent and gas have all noticeably risen and many of our clients just can’t keep up with their bills any more.” ~ Aurora, Food Bank Manager
Unfortunately, having a steady employment income no longer equates to food security. According to the Who’s Hungry 2023 report, an astonishing 52 per cent of new food bank users reported having someone in their household who is employed.
Data collected by the Brooks Food Bank indicates that 40% of individual users are children, and the rate of seniors accessing the food bank has tripled in 2024, due to the rising cost of living. 11% of food bank clients are experiencing some form of homelessness.
We can help our neighbors, colleagues, friends and family impacted by food insecurity by supporting our local food bank. Their program supplies food hampers to registered clients on a six-week cycle plus the Holiday Hamper program, which supplies extra hampers every year during December.
According to Brooks Food Bank Manager, the demand in our community continues to grow, which is in line with the trend across the country. Food bank use is at its highest in Canadian history, in fact Food Banks Canada estimates there will be 2 million visits to food banks this month.
“In 2019 (pre-covid) we added 98 new households to the program, but in 2023 we added 265 new households, and so far in 2024 we have already added 128 new households. These numbers demonstrate the growth that we’ve seen in recent years. In 2023 we gave out 893 total hampers plus an additional 122 Holiday Hampers in addition to our regular program. To date in 2024 we have already given out 588 hampers to our clients. I believe in 2024 we will probably exceed those numbers” ~Aurora, Food Bank Manager
Help us help our local food bank by joining us at the Festival of Trees November 21-23 at the Heritage Inn! With our community’s support we know we can make a real difference!
~Ashley Williams
Festival of Trees Committee
